Despite abysmal population projections for Dubbo all three levels of government are adamant that the city is ready and willing to grow.
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Earlier this week the NSW Department of Planning (DoP) released figures projecting Dubbo’s population will rise to 45,600 by 2036, a mere 5000 more than today’s level.
Compared to Wagga Wagga, Bathurst and Griffith, which all have projected population growth rates closer to 20 per cent, Dubbo is predicted to increase by only 12 per cent over the next quarter of a century.
Parkes MP Mark Coulton said he was surprised by the figure.
“If the population of the country is going to expand I would think Dubbo would too,” he said.
The MP said Dubbo could “pick up the slack” by housing people who left major cities due to overcrowding and infrastructure bottlenecks.
Despite Tony Abbot’s call for Australian immigration levels to be cut Mr Coulton suggested Dubbo could serve as a magnet for immigrants who would otherwise settle in Sydney.
He said immigrants were more likely to assimilate faster in Dubbo than in a big city and would fill vacancies in the agriculture and construction industries.
“A lot of them have come and added a significant contribution to the community,” he said
“Dubbo would have in excess of 50 quite strong ethnic communities.”
Independent MP Dawn Fardell said Dubbo “had the potential to increase its population much more” than the DoP figures suggested but there needed to be “strong investment from government”.
“There is certainly enough available land but developers aren’t going to build unless there is certainty,” she said.
“There needs to be a huge increase in infrastructure from state and federal governments.”
Dubbo mayor Allan Smith said council had previously planned for 40,000 people and was now in the process of expanding the city’s capacity for a population nearing 50,000.
Cr Smith cited new water, road networks and sewage programs as well as “soft infrastructure” projects such as the new theatre.
“We have the potential and the capacity to handle a large population,” he said.
But the chief executive of Urban Taskforce, Aaron Gadiel, said Dubbo’s “dire” population growth could see it become the next Detroit.
“This is one of the most unambitious growth rates I’ve seen,” he said.
A spokesman for the Planning Minister, Tony Kelly, said “comments denigrating any town in NSW are unhelpful”.
“These figures will be used to address the infrastructure needs of towns like Dubbo, what those needs are will now be worked through by local, state and federal governments,” he said.
“The latest population projections allow all levels of government to know and plan for the challenges facing us over the next 25 years, be it to reverse decline in some rural areas or meet the needs of a booming population in high-growth areas.”